Amazon says there’s no gender or ethnic pay gap in its ranks

Originally published March 23, 2016 at 1:07 pm
Updated April 12, 2016 at 12:42 pm

Workers take a break on Amazon’s South Lake Union campus. The company says a 2015 compensation review showed that women earned 99.9 cents for every dollar men earned in the same jobs at Amazon. (MIke Siegel/The Seattle Times)

A recent review of its 2015 compensation showed that women earned 99.9 cents for every dollar men earned in the same jobs, the company said. Minorities, the company said, make 100.1 cents for every dollar made by white staffers in the same occupations.

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Amazon.com said Wednesday that there’s no gender or ethnic imbalance in how it pays its employees, heading off pressure from activist investors who wanted the company to prepare a detailed report on the issue.

A recent review of its 2015 compensation showed that women earned 99.9 cents for every dollar men earned in the same jobs, the company said. Minorities, it added, make 100.1 cents for every dollar made by white staffers in the same occupations.

“There will naturally be slight fluctuations from year to year, but at Amazon we are committed to keep compensation fair and equitable,” Amazon spokesman Ty Rogers said in a statement.

The review comes in the wake of pressure by activist investors who asked Amazon and other tech companies to prepare a report on policies and goals to reduce the gender pay gap.

These shareholders, led by Boston-based Arjuna Capital and Baldwin Brothers, submitted such a proposal to Amazon that would be voted on at this year’s annual shareholders meeting. They cited reports about lopsided pay differences by gender in the tech industry, a field traditionally dominated by men.

The shareholders proposal cited a report suggesting that a category of women software developers at Amazon made about $10,000 less a year than their male peers.

But Arjuna and Baldwin said Wednesday that the proposal will be withdrawn after Amazon’s disclosure.

“We are pleased Amazon is stepping up in response to investor concerns about gender pay equity,” Natasha Lamb, director of equity research and shareholder engagement at Arjuna Capital, said in a statement.

Amazon had opposed including the proposal among the items raised for a vote at the shareholders meeting, arguing that the guidelines the proposal established were too vague.

But the Securities and Exchange Commission last week said it disagreed with Amazon’s take and discouraged the company from withholding the proposal.

Arjuna has encouraged Intel and Apple to provide similar disclosures through shareholder resolutions that also were later withdrawn.